eighteen

I made myself a little route on friday night. I got pretty into it because after I printed out the map (below) I wrote out where my aid stations were going to be (aka which street corners I would stash my little water bottles) and where my turnaround point was, et cetera. I even placed my little gu's on the appropriate mile markers. I thought it was really cute. pete didn't seem to appreciate it as much.


on saturday morning, after driving the course and placing all my baby waters and poweraids, I set off on my little eighteen miler. the first half mile my legs felt a bit like dead weight. by my first aid station (mile two) I had loosened up quite a bit. most of the run put me snaking through the avenues. and if you know the avenues, you know that it's always a hilly run. I was either going uphill or coming downhill. not much in the way of just flat.

but I ran through it all and kept a good pace. my legs started getting pretty tight around mile 14 or so, but it wasn't enough to make me want to stop running. I still felt strong. strong enough to run through any discomfort I was feeling. strong enough that when it was all over I still felt that if I had had to, I could've pulled another two miles. that's a good place to be mentally.

oh, and the weather was beautiful. just perfect for a saturday morning long run.

{p.s. if you want to analyze the bizarre dream I had before waking up and going running, go HERE. it involves qualifying for boston and cleaning tomkat's toilet. you could even win a prize.}

18 miles; avenues